From alt.pub.dragons-inn Mon Jan 10 22:10:42 1994 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!amd!amdahl!pacbell.com!sgiblab!swrinde!emory!gatech!usenet.ufl.edu!cybernet.cse.fau.edu!usenet From: wolvie@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (christopher motherway) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: Just your typical knight in the woods Date: Mon, 10 Jan 94 12:10:43 EST Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida Lines: 182 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: cybernet.cse.fau.edu ADMIN: Christmas vacation + problems with the NET access = a LONG hiatus for yours truly. I'll make a semi-rational attempt at making up for lost ground. This story is pressumed to occur a day before the [Housestorming] starts (that is, IF it starts at all; Mr. Meadows, please contact me). ========================================================================== It has been a long week for Sir Lance and Lady Blaze. The assisting with the clean-up effort after the meteorite hit, last-minute discussions about the "Housestorming", meeting up with all sorts of characters on brief bounty-hunting "jobs". Even young adventurers like Lance and Blaze could not keep this up much longer. So, one day, they decided to take the day off and ride out of Generica to spend a day in the open air and relax. Around noon, they came across a small forest north of the city. They recognized it as the woods they briefly past through en route to Kassandra, the city once occupied by the late Raoh the Conqueror. Blaze had enjoyed the foliage and had told Lance that, someday, she hoped to return to it. Blaze smiled as they approached, her golden amulet glowing slightly. It turned out that the woods was a bit larger than expected. Though not dense, it was expansive, stretching at least 3 miles across. Within its borders, trees of all makes of nature were spread out, leaving much space for the leaves to fall and collect and for travellers, such as the lovemates, to roam through freely on horseback or on foot. Near the western edge of the woods, a small pond had accumulated from the rains over the year. The woods surrounding the pool were more dense than elsewhere, as if it were protecting the waters. This proved a fine place for Lance and Blaze to halt and rest their horses and their heads. Blaze had packed a small lunch for herself and her mate, fresh meats and breads direct from the Short Orge Cook and the Dragon's Inn. Also, a small skin full of choice wine and two goblets. The twosome lunched by the side of the lake, discussing, over all else, the Housestorming raid. So many details about the large house to account for. So many possibilities of traps. And, yes, even the chance of meeting Raykor, the archmage who has caused young Andrea and Sheryl so much grief over the years. Once lunch was finished, though, the time for talk was finished. Lance stretched out on the bank and rolled up to allow time for the meal to digest. Blaze, however, had other plans. After magically checking the water to see if it was safe enough, she disrobed and walked into the pool. When the water got up to her hips, she dove in. Blaze had always loved to swim. She even likened her soul-walks to swimming in a sea of magical air. Over the years since leaving Bevillsca, she had not had many opportunities to float freely in a secluded lake or take in a breath and spend a minute or two exploring the depths of a pond or creek. To the young sorceress, the pool was a welcome sight. She surfaced in the middle of the pond and treaded water for a while, her eyes closed, her face feeling the touches of sunlight that shined through the canopy of leaves above, her mind almost oblivious to the surroundings. She felt something passing by her toes. Seaweed, perhaps, or a sunken leaf, she thought to herself. She paid it little mind. Seconds later, she felt something again, this time by her right hand. She wanted to dismiss it again as a leaf or a plant, but her mind would not let her. She started to kick to keep her head above water while her hands started reaching around, trying to find whatever it was. She did not have to wait long. Whatever it was decided to quickly wrap itself around Blaze's torso. It certainly was not seaweed! Even though she could not see it through the dark water, she knew what it was. A swamp-eel, a snake-like creature whose body was so powerful, that if you were caught in th grip of one and did not have a weapon to cut you loose, there was a good chance your drowned body would show up on the shore within the hour. Blaze did not move, save for the kicking to stay afloat. The swamp-eel was a territorial creature. He was more than likely defending a home or nest. She figured that if she somehow could prove to him that she was no threat, he would release her. Calmly, as a precaution, she started the quiet chantings of a "blade apperance" spell. She never got to finish, as the eel's head briefly surfaced in preparation for a dive. Blaze panicked, letting a small screech before the eel dragged her under the water. Lance heard the scream and opened his eyes immediately. The sounds of the forest had lulled him, but he was not yet asleep when he heard the cry. He jumped and reached for his sword, which he had unbuckled and left next to him while he rested. Looking out onto the water, he saw tiny bubbles of air near the center of the pond. A few quick running steps into the pool and Lance dove in. Even Lance's keen knight-eyesight could barely see through the water, but he knew to keep paddling straight ahead and deeper. He glanced to his right after a moment and saw Blaze, with the eel wrapped around her torso, its head lashing back and forth to tighten the grip. Blaze looked conscious, but she was trying not to panic. Lance quickly swam toward the eel. When he got close enough, he slammed the eel's blind-side with the side of his sword. Thre or four more times he hit the reptile until it finally turned its head and acknoledged the knight's presence. It released the grip on Blaze and charged towards Lance, who quickly blocked the creature's bite with his sword. Blaze swam to the surface, taking in several gasps of air once she hit daylight. Slowly she swam to where she could stand and regroup. Lance surfaced as well, the eel around his neck thrashing like an animal in a trap. Several cuts could be seen on the eel's body, as well as on Lance's arms. Then, just a quickly as they surfaced, they disappeared under the water again. Blaze finally found her breath and finished off the spell. A small dagger appeared in her hand. She did not move, though, as it seemed by the thrashing of the water that Lance and the eel were approaching where she stood. Lance surfaced again, right next to Blaze. The eel had Lance around the throat and the knight had dropped his sword in the water. "LANCE! CATCH!", screamed Blaze as she tossed the dagger into his open right hand. With a tight grip and a quick stab, the dagger was embedded into the eel's throat. As the creature screamed in agony, the grip loosened on Lance's throat. Lance grabbed the eel and heaved him onto the shore. The eel was still screaming as it sqirmed on the bank, trying in vain to return to the water. Lance used his feet to find his sword and kick it into his hand. He then raised it high and made a thrust in the direction of the eel. A fireball blasted from the sword and hit the eel dead-on. Within seconds, the eel was nothing but charred pieces of flesh on the bank. Lance took a second to catch his breath. Blaze walked over to him, concerned. "Are you all right, beloved?" she asked, examining the cuts and scrathes on Lance's arms and face. "Yes", Lance replied. "Yourself?" "Fine. I...guess I should have checked the water for animals as well as purity." Taking off his vest and shirt and letting them float in the water he and Blaze were chest-deep in, Lance said, "Well, no one can account for everything. I suspect that we may miss a few traps in Andrea's house ourselves." Blaze smiled and placed her arms around Lance's neck. "True. This was a good...exercise for tomorrow's Housestorming." "Indeed it was," said Lance, putting his arms around Blaze's body. "But...that is _tomorrow_. As for the rest of today...." The lovemates kissed and embraced. There were no further run-ins with eels or creatures of any kind. Had another person came to the woods, he or she would have found that the only creatures in the pond were Lance and Blaze. And, if that patron were smart, he or she would not have disturbed them. Chris Wolvie wolvie@cybernet.cse.fau.edu Disclaimer: "I am just a worthless liar/I am just an imbecil"-Tool ************************************************************************** Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton (The Rat's Mouth), Florida ************************************************************************** "If your wondering how he sigs and breathes and other computer facts/ Then repeat to yourself, "It's just a post and I should really just relax!"